It didn't take long for Jason to spot me. Our eyes locked, and as if drawn by a rope around his waist, he approached my table. 

"Fancy seeing you here," I greeted once he was close enough to hear me.

A small smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. 

"I was forced here at gunpoint," he said, his eyes flicking toward Holiday who was conversing with someone across the ballroom, "and the promise of seeing you." 

"Well here I am," I gestured to myself, sending him a cheeky grin. 

He chuckled, taking the seat next to me. 

The music had picked up again, so I found myself subconsciously leaning closer to hear him better.

"I haven't seen you for a while," I commented, curiosity clear in my voice. "That pink haired girl at the diner said you were out of town for a few days."

"Yeah," he breathed, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I had some things I had to take care of back home."

"What things?" I asked, wracking my brain for any possibilities. From what I could remember about our old life, he really didn't have that many obligations. His main source of income was playing guitar on the street and at local venues, so he didn't have a job issue to take care of. Although, it was entirely likely that things had changed in the two years we were apart, so I couldn't dismiss that entirely. Though wouldn't he have taken care of it earlier if that were the case?

"I'll tell you all about it later when the music isn't so loud."

I nodded in agreement, determined to hold him to that. 

"Want to go raid the snack table?" I asked after a few moments of comfortable silence. 

"Definitely."

I grinned and stood up, grabbing hold of his hand and and pulling him to his feet as well. I didn't let go of it, either, content to hold his hand as we walked together toward the refreshments.

After collecting our plates of goodies, we returned to our table and munched happily on them. It was entertaining for me to watch the people I'd come to know at the school dancing like nobody was watching, but I imagined it was less so for Jason. He was in a room full of strangers.

I turned to him, about to ask him if he wanted to get some fresh air away from all the chaos, but he surprised me.

"Do you want to dance?" 

I raised a brow. "I thought you hated dancing."

"I don't mind it if it's with you," he said, looking at me with relaxed eyes as he rested his head against the arm he had propped on the table. I don't know how he always had a romantic, swoon worthy line up his sleeve, but I loved it. It just made me fall even deeper in love with him.

"Then sure," I said, feeling optimistic even though I knew the likelihood of me doing something embarrassing that I would never live down was extremely high.

"Then let's go," he smiled, offering me his hand. 

I took it and we both stood again, tossing our plates in a nearby trash can before being absorbed into the mass of gyrating teenagers.

I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up in my throat as we jumped around and twisted our limbs in nonsensical fashions. It was hilarious to watch and exhilarating to be a part of. I hadn't had so much fun in a long time, and the fact that I was doing it with my angel made it all the more memorable. 

A few more high energy songs cycled through the mix, and as we danced we eventually bumped into Emma and Dennis again, who simply started dancing with us. 

"Is that your boyfriend?" Emma shouted over the music, practically next to my ear so I could actually hear her. 

"Yeah," I shouted back, knowing the other two couldn't hear us at all. 

"You two are really cute together," she told me with a grin. 

"Thanks!" I said. "So are you two!"

She blushed again, eyes wide before she narrowed them at me. She once again punched my shoulder before dancing a short distance away from me so I couldn't tease her anymore. I laughed loudly and let her.

We ended up dancing in a group with Jordan, Elliot, and Holly for a couple songs as well before it finally switched to another slow song. I looked at Jason expectantly. He reached out and grabbed my hand, but instead of pulling me closer, he pulled me away from the crowd. 

I was confused momentarily until I realized he was just taking me away from the mass of bodies and the blaring speakers so we could dance in a slightly more secluded and peaceful area of the room. 

It was as he pulled me closer and placed his hands on my waist that I realized something. 

"Did you put inserts in your shoes so you could be a little taller than me?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. 

He sucked in his lips and narrowed his eyes at something irrelevant in the distance and said, "Maybe?"

I chuckled at him, both for his actions and his reaction to me noticing. 

"You're ridiculous," I told him, shaking my head in disbelief.

"But you love me," he countered with a smirk.

"I do," I agreed, pulling him closer by his neck so I could place a quick kiss on his cheek. 

When I pulled back, he was pouting. "Is that all I get?"

"I'd prefer not to repeat having everyone I know see us kiss again," I said, referring to that time he had walked in and kissed me in front of the entire high school cafeteria.

"Well... we could go somewhere else. Somewhere more private. I did happen to rent a room here for the night," he said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

I rolled my eyes at him. "Of course you did."

I strategically ignored his suggestion and laid my head on his shoulder. He smelled like some sort of cologne, but it thankfully wasn't the overpowering sort. It was subtle and nice.

I once again peered out at the crowd, specifically searching for the pale blue dress of Emma. I was toying with the idea of actually taking Jason up on his offer and ditching the rest of the prom, but since I had come with her, I felt responsible for making sure she wasn't alone. However, once I spotted her dancing with Dennis again, I figured she was in good hands and probably wouldn't notice my absence. In fact, no one would. On top of that, I had already experienced over an hour of prom, which felt like enough, and based on the voting ballots I had filled out a few weeks earlier, I really had no interest in seeing who would be crowned Prom King and Queen. With that logic, my mind was made.

I placed a soft kiss on Jason's neck before saying softly into his ear, "How about after this song?"

He smirked and nodded, hugging me closer. I closed my eyes and savored the moment. I loved being close to my angel. He made me forget that there was ever anything wrong with the world.

When the song ended, we slipped quietly out of the ballroom. As we were taking the elevator up to the third floor, I fished my cellphone out of the inside pocket of my jacket and texted my aunt.

Message to: LIZAAAAA

Doing something stupid. Pick me up tomorrow morning? 10?
Sent at 10:02pm

A few seconds later, my phone chimed with her response.

Message from: LIZAAAAA

Don't wrinkle your tux ;)
Sent at 10:03pm

I shook my head at her words, but was overall grateful for the reminder. It was a rental after all. I should probably return it in decent condition.

From the elevator, it was only a short distance to Jason's room. He procured the key card from his own pocket and unlocked the door. 

Our lips were locked as soon as the door was. It was heated and passionate, more so than anything we had done recently. It was exhilarating and breathtaking all at once. I pinned him against the wall, desperate to get more leverage to deepen the kiss. As I did so, he worked at undoing my bow tie and the buttons on my shirt.

Needing him to be closer, I grabbed hold of his neck tie and started walking backwards toward the bed. Once I felt it on the back of me knees, I fell backwards and pulled him down on top of me. He caught himself with his arms on either side of me and took control of the kiss. I then worked at getting his shirt off. 

Why were buttons so annoying and tedious?

It took a few moments, but eventually it was fully open and I was sliding it down his shoulders. He helped me get it off of his arms and tossed it onto the chair beside the bed before leaning back down to capture my lips again. 

I ran my fingers greedily along his torso, and unfortunately, it was around then that I felt the annoying presence of bad memories at the back of my mind. Before I could let them take hold of me and ruin the moment, I pulled away from Jason's lips long enough to mutter, "Switch."

Jason didn't miss a beat as he rolled to the side, using his momentum and the grip he had on my shirt to pull me on top of him so that I was straddling him. I reclaimed his lips for a while before migrating down to his neck so we could both catch our breathe a bit. I peppered the soft skin with kisses, gradually moving closer to his shoulders. His hands gripped my hips tightly and he was panting heavily, making small sounds of bliss. 

What I wasn't expecting was the pair of words that slipped past his lips as I nipped his shoulder.

"Marry me."

I froze, unsure if I'd heard him right.

I lifted my head and looked into his hooded blue eyes.

"What?"

"Marry me," he repeated, sitting up and wrapping his arms around my hips as I sat in his lap. He placed soft kisses on my exposed chest through my partially unbuttoned shirt. "It doesn't have to be right away. We're still pretty young, after all. I just know that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

I felt my eyes getting a bit glossy as I asked, "Are you proposing?"

He smiled softly and looked up at me with a sparkle in his eyes. "Something like that. I can do it again if you want me to. Properly, with a ring, when you least expect it."

I laughed and leaned down to kiss him sweetly. When I pulled away, I pressed my forehead against his and asked, "How would we pay for a wedding?"

"Oh!" Jason said, pulling his head back to look at me. "About that. Remember when I told you Marilyn had no living relatives?"

I nodded, brows furrowed at the abrupt change in topic.

"Well when she- uh," he couldn't bring himself to say it, and instead took a deep breath and continued, "She left me everything in her will."

"She did?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah," he nodded. "The house, her bank accounts, and about three million dollars in other assets. That's why I had to go home, to sort out the last of the paperwork to transfer everything into my name."

I blinked, unsure of how to process all of the new information.

"She was rich?" I asked after a while.

"Apparently," he said.

I blinked again and looked down at him again.

"And now you're rich?"

"Apparently," he repeated. 

"Wow." I hadn't seen that coming at all.

He let me process the new information for a moment before saying, "So? You still haven't given me an answer."

It took me a second to realize what he was talking about, but I nearly slapped myself for forgetting that he was proposing. "Oh. Yeah. That's a hard yes from me."

"Good," he said contently, kissing my nose. "I can't wait to call you hubby."

I smiled and captured his lips, intent to show him just how much I loved him.

However, he pulled away again, excitement in his eyes. "I have one more surprise."

My eyes widened. "Another one? I don't think I can handle anything else."

"It's not as jarring as the last two, I promise," he chuckled, kissing my jaw before helping me off of his lap. 

I sat on the edge of the bed and watched curiously as he turned so that his back was to me. 

"Oh my God," I said in awe, reaching out to touch his skin. He looked over his shoulder and smiled softly as I gently traced the elegant pattern across his shoulder blades and down his lower back. 

"After you told me that story about your mom and how you see me as an angel she sent to protect you, I thought it was fitting," he said.

I moved forward and embraced him in a hug, resting my cheek on the back of his neck as I squeezed him tighter. 

He'd gotten a tattoo of angel wings, and the beautiful black ink perfectly concealed his scars. 

My angel had wings.

It was amazing how he was able to turn bad memories into good ones. Even when they were his own. He was a miracle.  

My miracle.

My angel. 

My wonder filled, beautifully flawed, blue eyed stargazer.

And I loved him.

THE END

×××
A/N

There it is, my dudes. The end of this roller coaster of an adventure. 

I hope this ending was to your satisfaction.

And now for the obligatory questions:

What was your favorite part of this book?

Who was your favorite character?

How do you feel now that you don't have to wait months for the next update?

Did you see that ending coming?

I hope you are all doing well and staying safe out there! Keep your eyes peeled for my next bxb shortish story Dark Waters Rising. The first chapter should be appearing on my profile in the next day or so.

Thanks for sticking with me,
-Mora Montgomery